When It's not meant to be...

When It’s Just Not Meant to Be

How do you know if the end of your relationship is the right thing for you?

It is absolutely possible to be in a happy, fun, and beneficial relationship with someone only to have it end. Of course, you could also be in a horrible, stressful, and traumatic relationship, and end it yourself. I’ve been fortunate enough in my time to experience both ends of the spectrum, and much of the in-between.

There are thousands of different scenarios that can play out when dealing with relationship dynamics and it can get confusing. Our lives get extremely complicated on their own, then we go and throw someone else into the mix, and now we’ve got ourselves a rodeo.

 “Meant to be,” can be defined as either entering a long term commitment, getting married, or spending the rest of your life with someone. After that point, a whole new dynamic occurs, but what happens when it all falls short of that marker? In order to get beyond the doubt, confusion, and questions, we’ve got to break it all down.

The Three Paths of the End

With the exception of death, in the simplest manner a relationship can only end in three different ways:

•       You give up, check out, or end it.
•       They give up, check out, or end it.
•       Both of you give up, check out, or end it together.

At first, these may seem obvious, but which of the three paths was taken is a very important detail. For instance, if it was you who ended the relationship, you have your reasons (or doubts) behind that decision as a starting place to move on. With that information, you can now work on doing what’s right for you.

If it was them, then there is little to nothing you can do about. In the worst case, you can stalk their every move and try to win them back, but that’s only going to make you push them further away. Yes, there are some instances when people do get back together, but we’ll have to save that craziness for another time. So, you’ve killed some time stalking, but eventually you finally realize that you can get started doing what’s right for you.

If the two of you decide together, well, congratulations. You are part of the elite members of society who are mature, responsible, and able to truly see how sometimes being apart can be the best situation for the two people. Now both of you can work towards doing what’s right for each of yourselves and move on.

Notice the recurring theme with each of the three instances? No matter how or why, the most beneficial move you can make is to work on yourself, and get to a better place (mentally and physically).

But I Still Want To Know Where Things Went Wrong!

All right, I get it. Even though having some sort of idea as to why it happened is not the most important thing to focus on, it can help in some cases. With that said, there could be a few reasons (of many) why the two of you didn’t last.

First off, this person just may not be for you (or you for them). A great relationship is built on a number of different attributes and values, and not everyone we date or enter a relationship with is going to have them all. That is not to say we aren’t good people, friends, or even partners, but it does speak for where we line up with respect someone else’s morals, ideals, beliefs, expectations, and preferences.

Lack of experience with dating and relationships can also play a part. The outcome may be due to your/their level of experience with the entire relationship process itself. Not to discredit “love at first sight,” or high-school sweethearts marrying, but without a proper knowledge of how different relationships work with different types of people, the less and less is going to be known about what it is that makes a partnership great.

Another problem area many of us run into is when we settle. Settling for less is the root cause for resentment. They may be A, B, and C, to us and have D, E, F, and G going for them, but what about the other 19 letters of the alphabet? They’re all important to the English language, just as all of what we want out of another person is important to our happiness. Accepting anything less than what you want can turn around to bite you in the ass someday.

I’ve purposely left out lying, manipulation, infidelity, control issues, abuse, and a laundry list of other reasons on purpose. They are a whole different ball game and tend to be rooted in some variation of a psychological defect. Also, as a current or former partner/spouse, it’s not your job to play therapist. If they aren’t open to seeking the right kind of help in this regard, then you have your cue to hit the road and never look back.

Where You Can Go From Here

While the dust still hasn’t settled, it may be hard to see ahead for some time. I’d like to share with you a few ideas which helped me greatly to solve some serious issues in my life, and really overcome some of those tough questions and concerns. Working on refining these areas of your own life will have a major impact on your mindset, well-being, and mean the difference between dealing with disaster or finding a favorable place to start.

Define your goals. To ever be sure about someone else, you have to be sure of yourself first. Who are you? What do you want? Get your thoughts, mindset, hopes, dreams, and goals in check. The more clear and defined you are about you, the easier it makes the entire process. It also enables you to get on the right path to find yourself, and eventually someone better.

Don’t mistake emotion for logic. This is probably one of the hardest feats to accomplish. Emotion and logic go together like oil and water. Feelings have a powerful way of hijacking us, overriding all forms of reason and rational thinking. Just think about that last big argument you had, what was running the show? Emotion or logic? There are a variety of strategies to deal with ourselves in this manner. One of the easiest is to step outside of yourself and take a birds-eye look at the situation at hand.

See your situation for what it is. Often times if things don’t work out, we end up hurt, lonely, depressed and wondering why. It stings. And for anyone who’s ever had their “heart broken,” you know exactly why that phrase was coined. One of the most important things you can do is learn to see your circumstance for what it is. Only then will you be able to make the decision to stay on course and continue to hurt, or change direction and start anew.

I am proud to say that through all the ups and downs I’ve been through, I am grateful. And if I can be this way, I know you can be, too. I’ve used each experience in my personal life as either a support system (while it lasted), or a stepping stone (when it ended) to learn from and grow. One of the biggest things to realize and take away here is that if it’s not meant to be, that’s actually a good thing.

Think about it.

Why would you spend your time and energy (your life) working toward or for someone who doesn’t afford you the same in return?

Now I’d like to pass it on to you. Have you ever tried to make a relationship work to no avail? How long did it take to realize it was over? Yo can share your experiences in the comment section.